US Midterm Elections result in two Pro Crypto Officials in Office

The US Midterm elections are over and the results are in. Republicans will continue to rule the Senate, and Democrats dominate Congress. There are many new leaders that have taken seats, to many to shake a stick at in fact, but there are two new leaders that are raising hype in the crypto world.

The gubernatorial elections resulted in two new democrat, pro-crypto, leaders being appointed governor. One for California and one for Colorado.

California

Winning 59% of votes in California is democrat Gavin Newsom, defeating his republican contender John Cox to become California’s governor. According to the The Sacramento Bee, the local newspaper, Newsom became one of the first high-profile politicians to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin back in 2014.

For Newsom’s latest campaign run, he hosted a BitPay page that accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash for campaign donations. Newsom reportedly received $116,800 in campaign donations from the crypto celebrity Winklevoss twins in 2017. Though it’s been confirmed the twins did make this donation, they did so using fiat currency and made none of the donation using crypto.

Newsom does not often express his support or interest in blockchain, but shows what support he does subtly. Newsom has not made any direct speeches, comments or posts on where he stands on the topic. Newsome stated back in 2014 that he’ll “promote the technology ever so subtly by saying I’ll accept bitcoin in the campaign.”

Colorado

Republican Walker Stapleton was met with defeat this election when his democratic opponent Jared Polis sealed down 51.6% of votes. Polis also hosted a BitPay account for his campaign that similarly accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.What dramatically differs these two pro crypto governor’s, is that Polis unlike Newsom, is not subtle when it comes to talking and promoting his stance on blockchain technologies. In fact, Polis devoted an entire page on his campaign website to talking about the five areas of blockchain technology that he plans on exploring into in his blockchain policy.

The five areas include voter protection, cybersecurity infrastructure, blockchain-based solutions to improve Colorado’s energy grid, and the use of public ledgers so that there’s more transparency regarding state contracts, expenditures, and other government bureaucracy.

Polis’s blockchain policy pulls a lot of its foundations from the US state of Wyoming, who back in March of this year defined cryptocurrencies as “Utility Tokens”, creating a new class of assets. Wyoming’s legislature has also recently passed a bill that effectively exempts cryptocurrencies from state regulations,. The bill was signed into law by Governor Matt Mead.

Polis outline his desires for blockchain firms to “flock to the state” stating that further work and development of the industry can create “government applications that save taxpayers money and create value for Colorado residents.”

Polis continued on to state that he promises “to create a statewide safe harbor designed to exempt cryptocurrencies from state money transmissions laws.” Polis has plans to “establish legislation that protects ‘open blockchain tokens’ or cryptocurrencies that are exchangeable for goods and services,” from heavy and tiresome licensing requirements that apply under extant securities and currency laws.

Nationwide

While any crypto or blockchain legislation has yet to create and impact in the US, certain leaders such as Polis and Mead have hopes that they will. Congress still seats some blockchain supporting officials (not one woman among them) after the elections. Though Brad Sherman, sometimes called “the most hated congressman” in the crypto world, will continue to hold the same seat he’s held since 1997 winning 70% of the vote.

What does America need to do, so that i can capture the attention of it’s voters and make way for a generation of pro-blockchain officials? It needs a ruckus.

The political world is still to bland for crypto and blockchain political news to grab any attention. When you see a candidate that’s ‘pro blockchain’, it doesn’t grab as much attention as it should That’s because we don’t have any radical anti-crypto or anti-blockchain candidates running, or at least none who actually make it into the elections.

Disagreement and arguments is what grabs voter’s attention.

No one turns on the TV to watch a presidential agreement. People turn on the TV to watch a presidential debate, or any debate for that matter. No one’s attention is going to be grabbed by candidates who all agree blockchain is good, or neutral parties. We need pro and anti crypto candidates to take the stage next election.

Not only will having disagreeing viewpoints on crypto and blockchain grab voter’s attention, but it will encourage and entice voters to educate themselves on the topics.

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